Arpeggio of Blue Steel - Ars Nova: Lesson of Free Will
by Hunter Dracon
Summary: When a sister is lost and a brother vanishes, leaving behind a message that haunts the killer for the rest of her life, will bringing in a pair of strangers help in the situation, or make it worse? When rumors of a rogue submarine surface, what will happen as a result, will the killer be destroyed or will the brother die trying?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Pride and Loss of the Lone Wolf

A/N: G'day everyone! Now, you may or may not be familiar with me by now. As I've Co-Written Spartan and Wolf: Realities Collide with Arisentactica (Arisentactica: Check it out please). However, as this story is my idea (Arisen: it was a joint idea), Arisentactica will be taking the backseat co-writing role on this one, and he will be featuring his newly created OCs for this story (Arisen: only one main character).

A/N for Arisentactica: Well… I don't know how this will end up, but let's give it a shot. WE OWN NOTHING but our own characters! Arpeggio of Blue Steel belongs to its creators not us! M for blood and gore.

Date: Year 2048. All other date and time information unavailable.

Location: Unknown, Suspected to be somewhere in the Pacific Ocean near unknown island

The air rumbled with the sounds of explosions. The US Fog Pacific Patrol Fleet 5, made up of four Iowa-class battleships, eighteen Fletcher-class destroyers, six Baltimore-class heavy cruisers, three Alaska-class battlecruisers and eleven St. Louis-class light cruisers, continued to hammer an absolute bastion of a battleship that was black in color, with vibrant electric blue lightning patterns and boasted five quad-barrelled gun batteries. The ship's armor absorbed each hit the Fleet of Fog dealt, and the battleship dealt it's own damage with devastating efficiency. Each turret fired their shells at their own individual targets, of which their Klein Fields were quickly drained, and the ships sunk with three volleys for the battleships and battlecruisers and two for the cruisers and destroyers each. The big battleship had no real need to use a full broadside until the Iowa-class battleships, Alaska-class battlecruisers, and the bulk of the St. Louis-class cruisers joined the fight, launching corrosive torpedoes and missiles en masse. At that point, the battleship's entire deck opened up, revealing at least 180 missile tubes loaded and ready to fire.

The battleship's five deck mounted gun batteries diverted their attention onto one of the four Iowa-class battleships, and fired. All twenty shells hit the much smaller battleship and overloaded it's Klein Field before piercing the armor. Half a second later, the doomed ship erupted into a massive fireball. But the second volley was already on its way to the second Iowa as the battleship's missile array launched, each tube spitting out four missiles in quick succession. The missiles gathered in a cloud as they streaked up into the sky before falling upon the battlecruisers and the heavy cruisers, right as the final Iowa erupted into its own fireball. The battlecruisers and heavy cruisers didn't stand a chance, the first two volleys overloaded their Klein fields, allowing the third and fourth volleys to blow the doomed ships to bits. Then the lone battleship turned on the remaining light cruisers and destroyers. It's speed increased as it charged, and many of the Fog ships were unable to run away as the big battleship mercilessly smashed right through them at full ramming speed.

After the ramming run was complete, there were only 3 St. Louis-class cruisers left. As a last act, they launched all of their remaining torpedoes and fired all of their batteries on the unknown ship. Unable to further withstand the barrage after the massive battle, the ship finally received damage and took a direct hit to the bridge, blowing everything that was inside it, including a human body, out the other side and into the water. A female voice cried out when this happened, shouting, "Skipper!", but with the ship being hit left and right, it could do nothing but raise the throttle and slink away, covering it's escape with thick volleys of missiles and cannonfire. However, ignored by the Fog, the body drifted for miles among the debris until washing ashore onto the beaches of an unknown island.

∫∆µ∆∫

In the year 2039, right before the final battle between the UN navy and the Fog Fleet, the Yamato-class super-battleship sister ships, Yamato and Musashi, built another super-battleship. The only difference being that it was an old American design that never saw service, the Montana-class battleship, instead of another Yamato-class. The Montana-class was big enough to take on any Japanese ships during WW2 and was fast enough to catch even the Kongou-class fast battleship when needed. Something went wrong however, instead of a female Mental Model, the Montana built itself a male Mental Model, causing an uproar among the sister ships and the Fog fleet commanders. When he was added to the council though, things straightened out for the most part, mostly due to no-one wanted to get on the bad side of a ship that could blow even the Yamato-class super-battleships apart with ease. This was due to the size and amount of turrets equipped on such a vessel. It was 921 ft 3 in (280.80 m) long and had 4 triple barrel photon cannon super turrets with enough power combined to match a supergravity cannon, with 120 missile/torpedo tubes spread throughout the hull and deck, and a ultra-gravity cannon to go along with it, this ship could blow apart an entire fleet without taking any damage, due, in part, to the powerful, highly advanced, Klein Field equipped on the ship. He was more maneuverable than any battleship ever made due to the 5 main engines that propelled him.

His name was Montana but he preferred to be called either Anthem or Strider. If he came to a meeting, all was sorted out quickly and the meeting completed, then he left. This was accomplished by the personality that he was made with: cold, ruthless and no nonsense whatsoever. He was given command of the entirety of the Pacific American Fog Fleet, including the patrol fleets. If he was called into a meeting, you knew it was serious. If he was commanding a fleet that wasn't his own, you knew that there was something wrong. He held the ultimate opinion regarding any changes to the Admiralty Code between the three super-battleships. He was intelligent and wise when it came to tactics and warfare as a whole, more so than any other Fog ship to ever be built. He always wore black jeans, dark grey combat boots, a gray shirt, and a black trenchcoat. His ships color pattern was more angular that any Fog ship seen before, its color was a dark blue, seen only because of the shine of the edge of the pattern. He chose the pattern because he was more practical and found that something with ornate curves and angles was a waste of time in regards to the designing of such things. If he gave his opinion on something, the Fog listened, when he gave an order you either obeyed or thought about it, then obeyed. He was the pride and glory of the Fog and he was well liked due to being a fair and just commander. Any potential rivals feared him because of his capabilities, which outclassed any other Fog Mental Model. He was the commander of the Fog during the final battle with Humanity and it showed what he was truly capable of. He decimated the human fleet by deploying his ships in a formation of battleships and battlecruisers first, then heavy cruisers, then light cruisers and destroyers. He, however, was always under scrutiny for every single mistake he made, every error in his processing algorithms, but he always dealt with it in stride, never letting it get in his way.

He functioned with the utmost loyalty to the Fog and the Admiralty Code, until one day, one event, irrevocably changed his existence. This event was when Musashi sank her sister ship Yamato. When he heard of the deed and why Musashi did so, he was furious, no he was livid. He cut off all ties to the Fog, only taking enough supplies and ships needed for survival. When numbers were totaled in regards to ships, Musashi found that he took 1 Iowa-class battleship, 2 Alaska-class battlecruisers, 4 Baltimore-class heavy cruisers, 5 St. Louis-class light cruisers, 12 Fletcher-class destroyers and 3 Balao-class submarines, fitted for intelligence and stealth in mind. This fleet was never heard or seen from again for decades but before he left the Fog, he vowed that he would have his revenge upon Musashi for killing his little sister Yamato. His exact words were, "Do not expect to see me again until I deem it time Musashi. Never again will I be involved in the murdering of innocents when the only thing that they have done is refuse your beliefs. I will hunt you down until there is nothing left but a hull of a ship, no Mental Model, nothing. This I vow Musashi, until the death of my little sister, your big sister Yamato is avenged. The next time we meet Musashi, it will be your end."

Ever since that day, Musashi has been on guard for the inevitability of Montana's return, building more ships, ranging from battleships to destroyers, at a rapid pace so that she can accelerate her plans without any sort of interference. Every Fog ship knew what his ship was and had heard of his reputation as a commander. If at all possible, they were to contact a battleship immediately if he was encountered. He wasn't seen or heard from in over 5 years. After five years, strange reports of a 'ghost fleet' surrounded by smoke engaged Fog vessels, the vessels could only record the fire coming from the smoke and nothing else before the vessel was destroyed. This earned the commander of the fleet the moniker 'Ghost', because the commander never showed himself and was always gone before Fog ships arrived to investigate. Another thing was the nanomaterial. When the Fog got there and scanned the wrecks, there was no nanomaterial in the wrecks, just the metal used to build the ships. Why the nanomaterial was missing was a mystery that Musashi demanded solved.

The hit and run attacks have been happening for five years, that is until a new threat to the Fog came. A powerful new enemy, a much bigger battleship with five quad-barreled cannon turrets that flew a black flag like in the golden age of pirates, with a skull and a pair of tawny white and black wings fully spread behind it. The ship would roll in silently, out of fog banks and dangerous tropical storms without warning and obliterate any Fog ships in its path with cannonfire and missiles volleys numbering in the hundreds. As the damage caused by this lone ship tied that of the Ghost fleet, it gained its own name: Specter, as none have yet managed to sink it, and any who try are only destroyed. Many Fog Mental Models have received reports that raise a suspicion that the ship can submerge, but none have been proven, as the ship, regardless of its size, has been too quick and nimble for any ship to catch it.

For 5 years, there have been two mysteries that needed to be solved and the threats destroyed. Five years ship after ship has been destroyed. These mysteries were on the forefront of Musashi's processes for the past 5 years, five years of destruction and losses, five years of a massive hole in Musashi's core due to the feeling of family lost, both her brother and sister. One she sank, the other vanished without a trace. The only thing that she has now are her fleets and the Mental Models of the special sub-type class ships of the fleets.

∫∆µ∆∫

Location: Midway Island

Date: March 25th, 2048

In a base no-one but the Ghost fleet knows about, there was a man in a black trench coat, black pants and dark grey combat boots. This man was known to the Fog as Ghost, but to those who knew him, he was Anthem or Strider, former member of the triumvirate of the Fog, former commander of the entire US Pacific Fog Fleet, brother to the late Yamato and former brother to Musashi. One phrase often used to describe him would be one that comes from a early 21st century book titled: "Halo: The Fall of Reach". The sentence went like this: 'If you were his friend he would protect you but if you were his enemy, may God help you.' This was true to anyone who came across him, they either came out dead if you tried to kill him or alive for leaving him in peace.

Ghost was sitting in his command chair on the Montana, thinking about his next move. He could either go looking for a rogue I-400-class submarine that was found by the Japanese islands or he could attack another Fog fleet encroaching on the humans. As he was thinking about his options, a Mental Model of a Iowa-class battleship walked through the entrance to the bridge and stopped in front of Anthem.

He looked up, hearing her footsteps, and looked up at her. She had on an American Navy Captain uniform with the appropriate rank bars and all. Though most Fog ship Mental Models wear suggestive or revealing clothing, Anthem made it clear that any Mental Model found wearing revealing or suggestive clothing would be grounded in their core for a preset amount of time according to the severity of the offense. She had short, pixie cut blonde hair spiked up and to the side. She had striking sky blue eyes, a slender nose, high cheekbones and a thin jaw. Her skin was naturally a pale white, but with the slight tan she had, it looked like she was outside most of the time.

"Sir I have more information on the Fog Fleet approaching the humans." She reported.

Anthem nodded his head and made a 'go on' gesture with his hand. Seeing the gesture the Model said, "The fleet is headed to Yokosuka, Japan. Their intentions are unknown, however and they have 2 Kongou-class fast-battleships with an escort of 1 Takao-class heavy cruiser and 4 Hagara-class light cruisers. There might also be I-400-class submarines with them for intelligence, but it is unknown at this time what they are planning to do there sir."

Anthem nodded and said, "You have done well Missouri, gather everyone in the conference room and prepare the necessary ships for departure and see if you can find any more information on the rogue I-400-class submarine if you can. Use our subs on silent running to do so, we don't need to alert the Fog Patrol Fleets of our ships whereabouts."

Missouri nodded her head and left to carry out her orders, as Anthem stood up and went out of the bridge to address his fleet. It currently held 2 Iowa-class battleships: Iowa & Missouri, 3 Alaska-class battlecruisers: Alaska, Huntress, & Colorado, 6 Baltimore-class heavy cruisers: Baltimore, Nightshade, Athena, Kiowa, Delano, and Orono, 10 St. Louis-class light cruisers since they are easy to build with no mental models, 20 Fletcher-class destroyers, no mental models, and 5 Balao-class submarines: Balao, Artemis, Tracer, Pecos, & Widow, over the previous 1 Iowa-class battleship, 2 Alaska-class battlecruisers, 4 Baltimore-class heavy cruisers, 5 St. Louis-class light cruisers, 12 Fletcher-class destroyers and 3 Balao-class submarines. He was in the middle of building another Alaska which would be named Hera due to the current lack of a good strong defense fleet.

As he stepped out, he saw the dry docks filled to the brim with ships undergoing maintenance, along with the Hera being built at the dock closest to the island. He then sighed and made his way to the conference room of the base. Once there, he sat at the head of the table and waited for the ship captains arrive.

Soon everyone was sitting down at the table and waited for Anthem to start.

"Fellow ship captains, we find ourselves in a position where we need to split our fleet for two missions. One will be to the city of Yokosuka, Japan to intercept a Fog fleet on their way there and the other mission is to a fleet encroaching on Hawaii. The second mission will be lead by Missouri and as for the first…" Anthema paused and a pained expression could be seen on his face before he steeled himself and continued. "I will be leading this mission myself. The time has come for us to reveal ourselves to Musashi once again."

To say that they were shocked was an understatement. Their mouths dropped to the floor in shock. Huntress, who commanded an Alaska battlecruiser, was the first to speak. "S-sir! Y-you can't be seen! Musashi w-would destroy you!" she started to tear up at the end. (A/N from Arisen: Mental Models can cry, they just don't do it often) Anthem walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Look at me Huntress." he said softly. Tears started to fall down her face and she looked down even more, ashamed of her show of her emotions. Anthem brought his other hand to her chin and lifted her head up to look at his face. She was crying and shaking from her fear of losing her father. Anthem saw this and spoke. "I'm not going anywhere little one. I won't fall by Musashi's hand or anyone else's." he said like a father to his child, gentle but firm. Huntress was sobbing now and Anthem wrapped his arms around her and whispered, "I need you to be the strong Huntress that I know you are. We will survive and we will find a way to stop Musashi." Huntress slowly nodded into his chest and after a few minutes, calmed down and had a determined expression on her face. "Thank you father, I won't let you down." Huntress said. Anthem nodded his head with a smile on his face and walked back to his seat before sitting down in it. "We will be splitting into groups organized by myself and Missouri. The fleet will be split evenly with equal amounts of firepower. This is not a time to be stagnant, this is the time to show ourselves once again and prove who we are and what we can do." Anthem revealed. "Anyone who would speak to me alone, meet me on the bridge of the Montana." he said.

With that, he dismissed the meeting and walked out of the room, going towards the intelligence center. The intel center was underground so that it couldn't be detected by enemy vessels scanning the area. Though it sounds massive, in reality, it was a large room with electronic storage and computers on desks that took up almost all of the room, allowing little walk space except for one wide isle in the middle of the room going from the front door to the back of the room. When Anthem entered the room, he went straight for the camera feeds around the island. While switching between camera feeds, he found a group of seagulls circling something hidden behind a rock outcropping. Intrigued, he commed Huntress. "Huntress, this is Anthem. I need you to investigate what the seagulls are circling in sector 89-C section 4. I'll meet you there." "Yes Father." Huntress immediately replied. I have a feeling that this will change everything. Anthem thought.

∫∆µ∆∫

Seagulls circling something usually meant nothing but remains of a shark kill or a stranded dolphin on the shore. This wasn't the case this time as Strider found out. What he found instead of a sea animal carcass or a stranded animal was a human body. A critically injured body, but a human body nonetheless. It was a 6'8" lithe male with a slight build and black hair coming down over the left side of his forehead, with the sides and back shaved but growing out. His hair had a single cyan streak that was split in half. He was clothed in an open black leather jacket and long vested undercoat with blue "veins" running throughout the coat. The jacket had Fleet Admiral shoulder board markings on the shoulder straps, collar, and sleeve cuffs. Or at least that's what Strider could tell from the wounds that covered the body in a coating of blood. His right arm was missing from just below the elbow down, blood still flowing out of the wound. It was the same for the rest of his wounds. He had a deep gash in his left side and his left arm was broken in to many places to count. He also had minor cuts and scrapes all over his body, some deep, some shallow. His entire face was covered in a moist coat of blood from a deep gash on his forehead spanning most of his forehead. His hair was matted with blood from the gash and turned it very dark burgundy. Huntress was already there, waiting for him, her face pale, probably from seeing the blood is such a large amount. As soon as Huntress saw Strider, she immediately ran into his arms, shaken. "I-I c-can't t-take see-seeing that much b-bl-lood father, I just can't." she stuttered out. The reason that Huntress was like this around blood was because she hasn't seen battle as much as Strider and the rest of the original Ghost Fleet has. She was recently built and was still going through her paces. Strider hugger her and rubbed her back soothingly, something that he learned long ago with her was that she craved physical touch for comfort. Only from him and Iowa though, no-one else. "It's okay my Huntress, go see Iowa. I'll take care of this." Strider said, his fatherly tone showing itself. Huntress nodded and after a few minutes in her father's arms, she calmed down and left to find Iowa.

After Huntress left, Strider walked up to the body and saw that his chest was rising and falling faintly, signs of breathing. After seeing this, Strider carefully picked him up bridal style and walked as fast as he could to the emergency med center, made specifically for these situations. If he wakes up, this could change everything. Strider thought He'll need a new forearm though. I'll see what I can do with that.

After getting to the med center, he nearly jogged into a room and laid him down on the table. He then called Iowa to the room and tried to stabilize him. A few minutes later, Iowa ran into the room, Missouri in tow. Iowa was his second-in-command, had chin length brown hair, brown, soft eyes, a thin nose and pronounced jaw line. She wore a navy commander's uniform for missions and a pair of blue jeans, a red t-shirt, a black leather jacket that went down to her waist, and green and blue shoes. She had a motherly feel about her and as such, she was the mother figure for all of the Mental Models built the past five years, with Anthem/Strider being the father figure. They never really knew why they called the two their parents, but accepted it and filled in the role to teach what was right and wrong. Artemis and Huntress were the only ones to call them 'mother' and 'father', or any variations of the parental titles, respectively, but everyone else called Anthem either 'sir' or 'admiral' and Iowa 'ma'am' or 'commander'.

They cleaned his wounds and bandaged them. They then hooked him up to a respirator to help him breathe and get the water out of his lungs, there was a lot. After doing everything they could for him, they gave him an IV with clean water and food switching in intervals of 1 hour for the water and 3 for the food. They then hooked him up to a heart monitor to make sure that he stayed alive. 4 hours later they got done and went out of the room. Iowa was the first to speak. "This will change a few things." she thought aloud. Strider nodded silently, thinking of what they were going to do when he woke up.

A/N (Hunter): Here we go folks! There's the first chapter for ya, hope you enjoyed, and even though it caps out over four thousand words, it's short by my standards. But then again, it's only the first chapter, and it'd prone to be somewhat short in order to start things off.

A/N from Arisentactica: This was fun to write and took a bit to get right. Didn't think it would be… but here I am, writing this story with a moron (*cough* Hunter *cough*). Let me know if you'd like for me to go more in depth with Anthem/Strider's backstory and I'll see what I can do. See y'all in the next chapter!

Hunter: I'm not a freaking moron. I'm an asshole and a dumbass sometimes, but other than that I'm all good. Now buzz off somewhere.

Arisen: You are all three, usually at the same time.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two: Awakening of the Stranger**_

 **A/N: Welcome to chapter two! Arisen and I are all over the place (Arisen: I have like 3-4 stories going on and I'm prioritizing this one and my first published story currently), and I am not able to do most of the writing due to my computer deciding to literally commit suicide. (Arisen: it's true, I was there, so to speak) Hunter: He was talking to me over the phone when it happened. Anyway, combat is on the way. (Arisen: have to set everything up first) Hunter: True, but let's see what we get! (Please note**

 **A/N from Arisentactica: Here we again with Chapter 2 of** _ **Ars Nova: Lesson of Free Will**_ **! Lets see what will happen when 'skipper' wakes up to the Ghost Fleet.**

* * *

When Strider made his way to the bridge of the _Montana_ , he was immediately swarmed by his fleet members curious about the missions and who will go where. He immediately put the last one to bed saying, "Missouri will be splitting up the fleet while I handle the human that was found on the shore earlier today. That is the last I want to hear of it." After that there was about half the group that left. The rest were curious about either the missions or the human that was in the med center. Strider focused on the latter question first. "The human is a male and was found on the shore in sector 89-C. He is currently in the med center and is in a coma. You may see him, but he will not know you are there." After that most of the remaining group left, leaving only Huntress, Artemis, Nightshade, Athena, Tracer and Widow still there. Those who considered him their father, bar Missouri who was busy with the assignment list for the ships going on the missions.

Huntress was still a bit pale, but some color had returned to her face. Huntress wore the very minimum in regards to clothes regs that Anthem put in place, tan skinny jeans, red form fitting t-shirt, shoulder length red hair, usually tied back into a french or dutch braid or ponytail if on duty or on a mission and free when she wasn't. She was very close to her "parents" and "siblings" and feared any harm to come to them. She was very social and well liked. She had teal/blue eyes, a full nose and jaw. She was about 5'6" and looked like she was sixteen.

Artemis wore silver everything. Silver shirt, silver jacket, silver boots, everything. She had long auburn hair, going down to about her mid back. She usually wore it in a ponytail, braid, or bun when on mission and when she wasn't it was loose down her back. She had silver eyes with flecks of yellow in them. At some point, she read a book series called Percy Jackson and the Olympians and liked the way that the goddess Artemis was described and changed her looks to match hers, and as a result, she had the body of a twelve year old and was usually very shy unless she was around her "parents" or "siblings".

Nightshade was the older "sibling" but just under Athena. She had black hair that went down to her shoulder blades and her skin color made her look more like she was outside the entire time. She had onyx colored eyes that changed to look like a volcano eruption when she was angry. She always wore the same clothes as Artemis, but either black or burgundy(don't know where she got her liking for burgundy, just happened, she even painted her ship black and burgundy). She was about 5'8" and looked around fifteen years old. In public, she was a soldier through and through, a rock for anyone who needed it and a shoulder to cry on for anyone. In private though, she was like a totally different person, as if she had split personalities. She showed if she felt vulnerable or scared. She showed her sisters the love and care that they needed, and she showed her parents how much she cared for them through both words and actions.

Athena was kinda an oddball in the group. Taking the big sister role and having the cold, calculating side that showed when she was in public. She looked in her late twenties and she had long thick brunette hair that went down to her butt (when asked if she would cut it she said, "I like it this way and no-one can change my mind."). When she went on mission, it was either in a braid or a bun with a few strands out to frame her face. When she was on base though, she let it free. She was a master of strategy, learning from Strider himself. But when it came to her family, no-one got in her way to protect them or keep them safe, bar Anthem and Iowa. she always wore a white, greek style chiton or a grey suit that made her look like a teacher without the glasses, probably because she taught the younger ones about anything and everything (and I mean everything, she got in so much trouble with Anthem when Artemis and Huntress asked him if he'd had sex and what it was like. He was so embarrassed and furious, he grounded her for a month to rethink her education plan and be in her room.). She had striking gray eyes that she upgraded to give herself enhanced vision, why Anthem didn't know but it was nice to have a walking pair of binoculars around at times.

Tracer was pretty much a carbon copy of a video game character named Tracer from an early 20th century game called Overwatch. She had short pixie cut, spiky brown hair swept to the right, light brown eyes and looked around eighteen. She always wore a pilot uniform, though being in command of a ship dressed like that is kinda weird but her choice. She was always more expressive with what she did. Kinda an artist and was always doing something, be it tapping her foot or twirling her knife, she was always doing something.

Widow was like a carbon copy of the Black Widow from the early 21st century MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), chin length red hair, green eyes and standing at about 5'10", she wore a black widow suit under a navy jacket. She was a CQC expert when needed, but usually was reserved and only spoke when prompted. She aged herself to be in her twenties so that she could be like the fictional character she adored.

Athena was the first to speak. "Why are we splitting up the fleet dad?" Anthem chuckled at his "daughter's" bluntness, he missed it at times. "We are doing so only out of necessity Athena. If it were not so, I would leave the majority of the fleet here and defend those still going through the motions with their ships." As he said that, he gave a meaningful glance to Huntress, Artemis, and Tracer. They all caught my look and the three the look was directed at blushed and looked at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Nightshade gave Anthem a slight glare but he shrugged it off and continued. "All of you, bar Artemis, will be staying here." Artemis's head snapped up to look at him, her mouth open in shock. The rest weren't any better. The only difference would be that Huntress was a bit miffed that she wasn't going, same with Tracer. Athena was about to speak but Strider beat her to it. "I don't want to hear it. This is her test to see if she is ready. The only reason that she is going while the rest of you will not is because Pecos convinced me that she would take her under her wing for the next mission. The rest of you will be getting similar deals starting after this mission." Anthem stopped and turned to Athena, who had the most experience out of them all. "Take care of your sisters while I'm gone. Watch that human as well. I want you to contact me as soon as he walks up." Anthem ordered, while Athena nodded in confirmation of her orders. "Anything else?" he asked.

Tracer raised her hand immediately, acting like a little girl saying "Oh oh pick me, pick me!" Anthem nodded to her to go ahead. "If he wakes up and you aren't here, can we snog him?" All the girls glared at Tracer like she spilled the beans on a secret plan of theirs. Or in Nightshade, Huntress, and Artemis' case, they went white and seemed horrified at the idea. Anthem was furious that they'd even consider something like that. "No you cannot rape him in his sleep Tracer." he ground out through gritted teeth. Tracer then seemed to get the implications of such a thing and went pale while blushing. She chuckled nervously while saying "Yeah… not such a good idea when you put it that way." Strider sighed, thinking Oh the joys of forced parenthood. "Alright girls, I need to talk to Artemis." They all nodded and left the bridge, whispering about how they were going to train harder to get their own chance. Strider turned to Artemis and motioned for her to sit with him in the command chair. She was confused until her face brightened, getting what he meant. She climbed into his lap and snuggled into his chest. Anthem chuckled at her burying herself into him and ruffled her hair and rubbed her back with his hands. She slapped his chest when he did that and tried to fix her hair, but was too comfy and snuggled back into him, letting her hair get messed up. "Artemis look at me." Anthem said softly, looking down at her. She tilted her head up until she was able to see his face. "I need you to do exactly as Aunt Pecos says okay? I don't want you to get hurt Artemis." Artemis nodded, realizing somewhat how hard this was for him to send out his youngest to a battlezone. "Okay dad, I will. I'll make you proud." Strider smiled at his youngest daughter and put his chin on hers and said "I know you will sweetheart, I know you will." They sat there, Artemis snuggled into her father and Anthem looking out at the horizon, the sun starting to set. Huntress came in to see if they were done and was not surprised at all to find Artemis in their fathers lap. She smiled and shook her head before climbing onto the other side of her father's lap and she too snuggled into him, needing reassurance after the events of the day. They both smiled when Strider put his arms around both girls and looked out to the horizon, the sun just starting to set. This will probably be the last time I can do something like this Anthem thought I'm glad I can spend it with my daughters.

∫∆µ∆∫

Two Days Later,

The wounded man groaned and slowly opened his eyes, he lifted up his right arm to try and rub his eyes, and then realised that he couldn't feel anything below his elbow, causing him to look at his arm, seeing what was missing. "Well shit." He stated bluntly and sighed before he used his left arm instead. Seeing that the vambrace made of black leather, carbon fiber, and some silvery metal with a blue tinge on his left arm was still there, he flicked his wrist and unsheathed the blade experimentally before sheathing it again. He sighed. "Oi! Anyone out there!" he called. A few moments later, the door opened revealing a young woman in her late twenties, early thirties with long brunette hair tied into a braid going down her left shoulder. She had vibrant, calculating, grey eyes and looked about 5'11" (' = feet, " = inches).

"You called?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did. How long was I out?" he asked.

"We don't know, you were found two days ago on the beach, unconscious and bleeding profusely." She answered.

"What's the date?" the unknown man asked.

"March 27th, 2048. Why?" she asked, curiosity piqued.

The man rubbed the stubble that had gathered on his chin with his left hand and thought hard. "I was ambushing a Fog patrol, and judging by today's date, and that was about a week ago." he muttered under his breath. "Because I need to know if any Fog ships have been found destroyed lately."

The woman put her hand to her chin and looked away, thinking. After a few moments, she spoke. "Not that I know of, but there is a Fog fleet nearby" she then switched to thinking aloud, "Spread out as if there are looking for something."

The man chuckled. "That's my girl."

"Hmm? What's your girl?" the woman asked confused.

"My ship."

"Ah I see. I didn't think that Fog ships had humans on board as captains, they usually blow them up." the woman said.

"She's not Fog. And her name is Sapphira."

"Haven't heard of a name like that either, except in a book series." she thought aloud.

"You're referring to the Inheritance series? Good books. Brisingr ended up being my favorite though." the man replied. "I think I better introduce myself, Fleet Admiral Skylar Siren Shade, callsign: Stirling or Lone Wolf, whichever you prefer, of the Australian Navy."

"Mine's Athena. Long way from home aren't you? Or are you looking for something?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact, yeah. I'm Looking for the Ghost fleet but my mission is also to obliterate any Fog ships I find."

"Isn't everybody?"

"True. But my ship is much more capable than any other that I've fought."

"If we can find her you mean." Athena pointed out.

"Oh, it's more likely she'll find us. With her anti-sonar stealth capabilities, she's extremely difficult to find." Skylar replied confidently.

"If the entire Fog fleet couldn't find this place I don't think that she could, no matter the capabilities she has." Athena revealed.

"We'll see Athena. My money's on her finding us." Skylar said.

Athena gave a faint smile to that and turned around and started walking out of the room. As she reached the doorway, she turned her head. "Like I said we'll see. I'll let you rest. Don't try to get up though, your bones and internal organs are still healing. I wouldn't advise trying to get up and risk retearing your liver if I were you." Athena cautioned as she walked out of the room.

"Hey, would you at least ask your commander to come and talk to me please?" Skylar asked politely. He didn't get an answer, Athena had already gone or didn't want to answer him.

∫∆µ∆∫

Strider was getting ready to leave for the mission when Athena ran up to him. "What is it Athena?" he asked, "I'm about to leave."

"He's awake and he's asking for you." she gasped out as she tried to regain her breath.

That got his attention. "Did he say anything else?" he asked.

Athena waited a few moments to catch her breath before answering. "He said he was looking for us and said his name was Fleet Admiral Skylar Siren Shade with the Australian Navy, or what's left of it anyway. He also said that his ship would find us and her name is Sapphira." she answered him.

Strider thought for a moment and said, "Mmmm… did he give a reason to see me?" Strider asked.

Athena gave her answer by a shake of her head.

Strider thought once more, deciding whether or not he should see this supposed Australian Fleet Admiral. He nodded to himself when he made a decision, confusing Athena as to why he nodded. "I'll talk to him but I don't necessarily know what will come of the conversation, and what will be revealed." Athena nodded and said, "Do you need me to be there?"

"If you would like to. It might be good for him to see a friendly face." he answered.

They then made their way towards the med center and more specifically, Skylar's room for a expected and unpredictable conversation.

∫∆µ∆∫

When they were outside Skylar's room, Strider stopped and said, "It would be best for you to go in first so that he doesn't become defensive. Ask for his reason to see me and make him answer and if it's a good reason, I'll go in." Athena nodded and turned to go in, but Strider grabbed her shoulder and said, "No snogging or anything like that."

Athena blushed deeply and looked away. "Yes sir." she said quietly, with a twinge of guilt, like her dreams were ruined. She then composed herself and walked in.

∫∆µ∆∫

As Athena walked back into Skylar's room, he was doing as he was told; resting. When Athena cleared her throat though, his eyes snapped open and looked around before settling on her. "Hey" he croaked, still waking up.

"Hey yourself." Athena replied.

"Did you get your commander to talk to me?" Skylar asked

"Before I talk to him, what do you want to talk to him for?" Athena asked.

That question was expected by Skylar, but not so soon. Quickly remembering his response to that particular question he spoke. "I just wanted to know who my generous host is and what I can do in return."

Athena nodded, "Why do you want to know where the Ghost fleet is so bad? I mean everyone who's heard of them wants to know where they are." she asked skeptically.

Skylar sighed and said, "I came to find them to try and form an alliance with them on behalf of my country."

"Doesn't everyone though? Maybe he or she has been visited by other countries and refused an alliance. What makes your plea for help different from the normal 'We need help against the Fog bit?"

"Because regardless of what other people seem to think, I know they're not human." Skylar stated firmly.

"Oh? Why do you think that they aren't human?" Athena asked curiously

"For one, only a rogue Fog contingent could cause so much damage, and second, I sailed right under them while they were hidden in a fog bank and engaging a Fog fleet." Skylar revealed, bluntly.

Athena was shocked. She never heard of a ship sneaking around under the fleet during an op. "Huh… never thought that the Ghost fleet was a rogue Fog contingent as you put it." she stated, trying to conceal her allegiance.

"Mhm… I think you know more than you let on. Do you have nanomaterial on or in you?" Skylar asked kindly, completely catching Athena off guard.

"I have nanomaterial on me, but in my clothing. Natural, self repairing armour concealed as clothing. Not too bad huh?" Athena confessed with a smirk.

Skylar's eyes narrowed slightly. "You aren't telling me everything. Please don't lie to me." he asked calmly.

"And why would I lie to you hmm?" Athena asked, "I've been completely straight forward with what I am comfortable talking about. Not everyone exposes their secrets so easily you know, doing so is foolhardy and will likely get you stabbed in the back."

Skylar nodded. "Then I'll be perfectly honest with you. I'm not entirely human. And I'm guessing that you are aren't either."

"Why would you think that I'm not human? What, you think I'm some sort of Fog imposter? This isn't the old show Battlestar Galactica you know."

"Fortunately, no. But I do believe you are a Mental Model, either rogue or part of a larger group I don't know, but you are one."

"Thought I was in the clear here… bummer." Athena frowned, eyes full of mirth. She then became serious and said "I've heard enough for you to talk to the commander. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." she said the last part playfully.

"How can I? I'm stuck to the bed due to injuries." Skylar shot back as Athena turned around and left the room.

∫∆µ∆∫

Anthem was leaning against the wall, chuckling softly at Athena's conversation with Skylar when she came out of the room. She glared at him when she saw him chuckling at her expense. "Stop it! It's not funny." Athena said, blushing. "He's ready for you."

"I know. I just thought that it was funny that you decided to try flirting with a man that you don't know during your second conversation." Anthem said jokingly, causing Athena to turn a deep shade of red from blushing so hard.

"I was not flirting!" Athena squeaked.

"Sure sure. When you stop melting from nervousness, go see Iowa, she wanted to see you about something."

He then walked into the room, leaving behind a sputtering, red faced Athena.

∫∆µ∆∫

Anthem walked in and got straight to the point, not even letting Skylar greet him. "I hear that you wanted to speak to me."

Skylar, a bit taken aback by the new man's bluntness, said, "Yes, yes I did. I take it you're the commander of the group that saved me."

"If that's what you want to call us, yes I am. I am Anthem, not any other name, just Anthem."

"Well then, Anthem, Let us talk about alliances, and whether my suspicions are correct in you also being a mental model."

Anthem walked to a chair on the left side of Skylar's bed and sat down in it. He then gestured for Skylar to continue.

"As the Fleet Admiral of the Australian Navy, which, by now, is probably the largest and most effective in the world currently, given all the research that's been done and the new ships that have been built, but are still in either dry docks or underground docks, we have the best chance at defeating the Fog. Because of this I think it's in our best interest to ally ourselves. My ship is the most powerful, even if it's still technically a prototype, in the known world, and the first ship that humanity has created with a mental model." Skylar explained.

"Really? I thought that only the Fog could create Mental Models." Anthem asked, curiosity piqued.

Skylar shrugged and said, "Don't ask me how they managed it, I just know that they did and I ended up being the Model of my ship."

Anthem was interested as to how they made a Mental Model but pushed that thought to the back of his mind. "I'd like to see your ship and take you to the USA because they have been working on the same thing and are nearly done, without the Mental Model though. I planned on taking the ship and making it my flagship, and before you ask again, yes I am a Mental Model. I am who you call Ghost."

Skylar was a bit surprised when Ghost revealed himself like that like it wasn't a big deal. He was curious about one thing though. "How have you been so successful against the Fog? You started over 5 years ago, right after the Fog wiped out the navies of the world." he asked.

Ghost thought for a moment, thinking of how to phrase the answer to the question before answering. "You will see after you are well. Until then however, stay here and let your body heal itself to the point where we can do something with that stub."

Skylar nodded and said, "See you soon I hope."

Ghost nodded and gave a two finger salute before leaving the room to prepare for his mission again.

∫∆µ∆∫

After he walked out of Skylar's room, Anthem walked straight to the maintenance room for Mental Models. It had everything a Mental Model needed to either reduce the stress of their systems or repair themselves with nanomaterial. Anthem went here because he had an idea on how to give Skylar his arm back. Planning on using the skill Anthem has with building lost limbs, be they from freak accidents or battle wounds, he planned to build Skylar a new arm using nanomaterial. He'll add a couple hidden features for him, but not many. He planned on giving him a retractable blade that can produce a hilt into his palm. Hopeful Skylar would like it, Anthem got to work on the arm.

∫∆µ∆∫

It was a couple hours later when Anthem came out of the repair facility with a forearm. He immediately made his way over to Skylar's room to show him his new arm. He was hoping that he could get Skylar to use it, but he wasn't sure if he would. These thoughts plagued Anthem's mind as he walked to Skylar's room.

When he got there, he calmed himself and walked in. Once inside the room, he found Skylar asleep, helping his body recover from his injuries. He walked over to his right arm and took off the bandage slowly, making sure not to wake Skylar up. After the bandage was off, he lifted the stub, attached the arm he made, and set the now complete appendage back on the bed and put a strap over Skylar's body, arms and legs. He then activated the arm and stepped back. As soon as the arm powered up, Skylar woke up with a yell of pain. "OW. GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" He yelled as he blinked away tears from the sudden jolt of pain. Then once his vision focused, and he realised his left arm, which he had reflexively clamped over his right, wasn't holding a stub, but an actual forearm. His arm still hurt, but he could see why after looking down at it. He raised one eyebrow as his mouth opened and closed, trying to form words, but his vocal cords refused to work. So instead he attempted to use the new arm and his face scrunched in concentration and pain from trying to use his new arm.

Anthem saw this and said, "Let it interface with your body. It'll work when it's done, not before. I suggest that you let your body acclimate to your new appendage before trying to use it. It'll take some getting used to, but I know it'll work it in the end. I also added some hidden features that you'll need to find for yourself."

Skylar nodded. "Does it have something like this?" He asked and held up his left arm before flicking his wrist, unsheathing the hidden blade concealed in the vambrace he wore.

Anthem didn't answer like Skylar expected. "You'll have to find out now won't you?" he smiled as he asked cheekily.

Skylar frowned. "As much as I don't like being in the dark, I'm pretty good at figuring things out on my own."

"I'll leave you to it then. You'll be up and walking sooner than you thought though. Come find me when you're up and walking." Anthem said, then left.

"Will do!" Skylar called after him before he sheathed his left hidden blade and started to take a closer look at his new arm. It was about the same as his old forearm, with a few noticeable differences. It didn't have any of the old combat scars that had been present on the original, and it was a bit paler, as it didn't have the slight tan that Skylar had gained over the years of front and center combat. It took about thirty minutes for him to start to gain any feeling in the new appendage, and he was starting to be able to move the fingers a bit. A little bit meant twitching to Skylar however. Either way, he's been able to stand up for about three hours now. He knew that much, but he was waiting to at least be able to move his fingers well enough to grab things before he went anywhere. It took another hour of exercises of moving fingers and twisting the forearm for him to deem that the new appendage was up to the task of walking around, but first, the real test. Getting dressed.

Skylar's saviors had saw fit to repair his uniform, but he wanted to be a bit more casual today, and just stuck with a white short-sleeve t-shirt, a hoodie, white jeans, and his black and silver combat boots. He dressed fairly easily, even though the fingers on his new forearm were still kinda stiff, and then left his room, his hands tucked into his unzipped white and silver hoodie as he wandered around, looking for Anthem.

* * *

 **A/N (Hunter): My apologies for taking so long on this chapter. Arisen and I will be taking a break on this one to work on a few others, as well as a few other things I need to work on. I swear, I get one idea, work on it for a while, and then get another one and work on that and so on. It pisses me off to no end cause I never get any stories done. By the time I get back to one I'd started, my entire writing style has changed and I need to rewrite everything! Ugh, I need to keep my ADHD under wraps. Either way, hope you enjoy and an early Happy Holidays!**

 **A/N from Arisentactica: That's it! There is chapter 2 of** _ **Lesson of Free Wil**_ **l! As Hunter said, this will be the last chapter for a while. This is due to someone (*cough* Hunter *cough*) dragging me into another fic idea that I came up with that he liked. I swear he's scatterbrained most of the time. (Why did he say Happy Holidays?) See you guys in the next one!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Strider Meets Rogue**

 **A/N from Hunter: Here's the chapter where things get interesting, and I'll be in my element. FULL BROADSIDE! (Also, as you may have noticed my OC's name has been changed. The reason for this is that the name for that character is several years old and I felt it was time for it to be changed.)**

 **A/N from Arisentactica: Hey guys! We are back from that LONG break (sorry about that by the way) and kicking it off again with Chapter 3! Let's see what happens when Anthem meets the I-401!**

The last time that Anthem was on the deck of his ship was about 2 years ago, but he didn't let that stop him when it came to finding a rogue Fog sub, rumored to have a Human captain at that. The thing that troubled him however was the rumored age of the captain. The rumors said that he was only an adolescent by their standards. Then Iowa came running up just as he was about to board, gasping. "Sir, there's a battle being fought right now. Those Fog ships that were searching for something in the south Pacific? They're being blown apart by a massive battleship. It's combat capabilities are off the charts, and the glimpses we've caught from it from the Fog networks show that it has five turrets, four guns each, and the ship is just ramming anything in its way, brushing off anything that hits it." Iowa's eyes were wide. "Everyone's sure it's another super-battleship."

Anthem wasn't surprised when he heard the news. He knew of the ship from when he and Skylar talked. _'A prototype ship that is able to go alone and blow any Fog ships out of the water,'_ Skylar had said.

"Bring Skylar to me and get ready to leave." Anthem said, slipping into his Admiral persona, the one that many called 'Montana's Eye'. In this persona, nothing got past him, no stray ship, no stealth submarine, nothing. He was the perfect commander that the Fog needed to end the war with the Humans, and end it he did, but not the way many thought of.

"Consider it done Montana." Iowa said before turning and jogging to find the Australian Admiral.

∫∆µ∆∫

When Iowa found Skylar, he'd been standing at the docks, looking out across the many ships moored there. "Quite an impressive arsenal of ships." He'd said when he heard her coming up behind him. He had his arms crossed behind him and he was wearing his uniform today, not one detail forgotten in the uniform's polish. It was as if he'd sensed that today was the day that he'd return to his ship.

Iowa was surprised that he seemed ready, and by the fact that he was in his uniform, the rest of the time she'd seen him, he'd been in casual wear, and while he still had this casual feel to him while wearing his uniform, he had a more powerful air to him. "The Admiral asked me to bring you to him." she stated firmly.

"I bet, I've heard the rumors. My ship has revealed herself." He commented as he turned around. "Lead on." He requested with the appropriate gesture. Iowa nodded and turned before jogging to where she knew Montana was, Skylar following closely behind. When they reached the Montana, Skylar politely requested to board, and then those holographic looking stairs appeared, signalling that he had full permission to board the battleship. Skylar found Strider looking at a map of the Pacific Ocean, complete with the islands and Fog fleets.

"You called?" Skylar asked simply.

"I did." Montana said, "As you probably know, we found your ship. What we need is you to go get a handle on her. She is battling Fog ships with no regard for the collective damage that she has taken in the short amount of time that we have known where she is."

Skylar nodded thoughtfully, "How many battles has she gone into?"

"Seven battles in no less than 2 days." Montana answered curtly, "From what my ships have seen, she's nearly lost a turret from the focusing fire of the Fog ships."

"She's being reckless, I'll confirm that, but in regards to the damage sustained, the armor for the turrets is a bit too thick to lose all the guns, even from focus fire. So she should still have most of the guns working, although the breeches of a few of them might be a bit damaged. The breeches of the guns are also armored, and so it's still difficult to damage them." Skylar stated. "I'm the primary mental model, she's mostly just there for situations just like this where I'm out of action. She can handle herself for now."

Montana nodded. "Regardless, we need you to bring her under your guidance again, otherwise she may not survive."

"I understand, but she's capable of holding out until we get to her."

"I am fully aware of that."

Skylar grinned. "In that case, shall we?"

"Go with Iowa. She will be on the mission to meet your ship."

Skylar nodded. "Copy that, I wish you luck, Montana." He replied and then turned to Iowa and nodded. Iowa nodded in return and then led him to her ship, which they boarded.

∫∆µ∆∫

As Iowa gathered the ships assigned to her and Missouri together, ( **A/N: They have 2 _Alaska_ -class battlecruisers, 3 _Baltimore_ -class heavy cruisers, 5 _St. Louis_ -class light cruisers, 10 _Fletcher_ -class Destroyers, and 2 _Balao_ -class submarines in her fleet**) Skylar monitored the battle closely, and as it ended Skylar noticed the reduced speed in which Sapphira was making her escape. "Iowa, could you bring enough nanomaterial for repairs?" he requested, "My ship's limping right now, and she's not going to get as far as she probably hopes she will. There'll likely be an ambush waiting for her, and with the damage I suspect she's sustained, she won't be submerging anytime soon. Her top speed is fifty knots because I'm not there, but she's limping at thirty-five knots."

Iowa nodded in agreement and walked to the windows on her bridge. She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder, "We'll be leaving within the hour. Make sure you're ready."

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I just wish I had a ship at the moment." Skylar stated before he left the bridge and leaned on the bridge platform railing.

Iowa glanced at him sadly, feeling sympathy for him. A Mental Model without a ship. That alone, for Iowa, would be the worst thing that could happen to her. Iowa shook her head and left the bridge to finish preparations for the mission, one of the most dangerous that she's been on if her suspicions about an ambush were correct.

∫∆µ∆∫

As the lone battleship sailed on, the current mental model of the ship lay gasping on the deck. "Repairs have started on the gun, and should be done in about twenty more minutes." She gasped out before she sat up. "I'm lucky all they got was the breech of two of the guns in the front turret and didn't cook off any ammo in it since the gun was still reloading." she sighed once she'd caught her breath. Then her eyes widened and her head shot up. "SHIT!" she cried and the ship swung to starboard before a few dozen shots blazed past a split second later. The young woman glared in the direction of the shots. "You want more?! YOU GOT MORE!" She yelled before the ship's three front turrets swung around to vector on the incoming ships. They fired, the very front turret only firing it's two left barrels since the right side had a massive hole bent inward. The shells struck home, smashing through the klein field and into the citadel of the lead Iowa-class battleship as the massive five turreted battleship's secondary quad 184 mm guns went to work, sending volleys of fire into the lead enemy ships' klein fields, slowly overpowering them while the main turrets reloaded. The girl stood with her feet apart and her fists clenched as she turned her ship to port, just barely dodging another volley of fire before she opened up with her own, nailing the second _Iowa_ -class before she swung further to port and brought her rear guns on target. They fired, the shells streaking away before slamming into the klein field of the first of three North Carolina-class battleships and overloaded it, but didn't do any further damage, but gave the girl's secondaries an opening, allowing them to rip into the lead North Carolina-class' main guns, ripping into its armor and blowing the barrels apart before the girl's second volley from her rear guns ripped through the doomed ship's citadel. The last _Iowa_ -class and the two remaining _North Carolina_ -class Fog battleships opened fire, and the massive battleship dropped her starboard anchor in a bootleg turn to dodge the incoming fire. As the rounds slipped past harmlessly, the massive battleship fired her front batteries and blew the last Iowa-class apart as her rear guns swung around to fire on the two North Carolina-class ships. The two turrets leveled their guns onto each of the two battleships separately and fired, draining the two battleships' klein fields to 75% strength before the front turrets opened up and blew their klein fields away, which, by then, the rear turrets had reloaded and fired, putting a volley of four 484mm rounds into each of the two _North Carolina_ -class battleships, splitting them in half when the shells blew up. As the massive battleship sailed between the wrecks, she stopped among them to help protect her hull from any further attacks while she finished repairing her front turret. The mental model sighed. "At this rate I'm going to have the Fleet of Fog descending on me like piranhas." She muttered as she leaned against the front turret. Then she looked up as she heard the splashes of torpedoes dropping into the water. "Aw hell. I need more time, my turret's still repairing!" she cried.

Suddenly her ship was engulfed in a cloud of fog. She couldn't see anything, but detected 24 unknown ships approaching her position. She soon heard explosions coming from all around her. She scrambled to get her turret repaired and move before she got hit by a stray round. As she was repairing her turret, a hail from the unknown ships appeared. She answered it and was stunned speechless when she heard who was on the other end of the line.

"Hey sweetheart! Need some help? Maybe a hand or a few dozen guns?" Skylar's voice rang out.

"Skipper! You're alive!" the girl replied.

"Yup, still kicking." Then she heard a little fainter, "Iowa, could you bring us alongside? I need to finish this fight. There's too many cruisers and destroyers for you and your ships to handle yourself."

She heard a female voice in the background but couldn't hear what she said. Whatever she said made Skylar frustrated though because he came back on the line and said, "Make your way to us so that we can get you out of here. But as soon as I'm onboard, I'm letting loose, I've been off my ship for too long."

"Copy that Skipper." the girl acknowledged and then the massive battleship began reversing out of the sinking wreckage of the six dead battleships. "Which ship in the formation should I head for?"

She heard the female voice again before Skylar came back on the line. "Just make your way over to the group I am with, meaning the 24 ships that just randomly showed up."

"I suspected that." the girl replied as the ship's anchor was reeling back onboard and the reverse speed increased and the ship quickly came up on the group.

Her ship was sluggish from the engines being hit by shrapnel from torpedoes and missiles from the Fog fleet but she still made it there pretty quickly. "Which ship am I going to?" she asked as she entered the formation.

"The lead ship! Get to the lead ship!" the female voice that she heard earlier yelled so that she could hear.

"Acknowledged." The girl replied as she maneuvered the massive battleship alongside the lead ship in the formation. Then she felt a weight ease off her shoulders a split second after slipping into position alongside the Iowa-class battleship that lead the formation. Then the girl felt the massive battleship suddenly surge forward and turn away from the other battleship.

"He's on." she whispered as the front turrets shifted and angled upward before roaring their hymn of destruction. The massive ship glided out of the fog bank like a vengeful angel as it's deck opened up and launched missiles that streaked up and then came down on the many destroyers and cruisers that had gathered beyond the fog bank. The missiles' targets went up in massive fireballs as the volleys of missiles descended on them. The massive battleship's missiles and shells swept across the gathered fleet like a plague, blowing ships to pieces in troves. With the supporting fire of the unknown fleet, the gathered Fog ships stood next to no chance.

"Iowa. I could use a hand here. I'd like to get back to base as quickly as possible and my engines are damaged. While we repair them, could you have a couple ships tug us to base?" Skylar asked, confusing her as to who he was talking to.

"Yeah hang on, I'll get Missouri and Baltimore to tug you. Be just a moment and we'll be ready to rock." the female's voice responded.

"Gotcha Iowa, Skylar out." He replied and then the comms shut off on his end.

A few moments passed before the girl felt a pair of arms slip around her waist, causing her to gasp in surprise before she spun around and hugged the young man who now held her. "I'm so sorry!" She cried as she buried her face in the crook of his neck and began sobbing.

Skylar sighed and moved his right arm up to rub her back soothingly. "It's alright, the plating and frame of the bridge took the brunt of the damage, and the glass shattered because of the shockwave, so I wasn't killed when I was thrown out of the bridge and off the ship." He explained as she cried into his chest. "And the end result gained us allies, gave me a new forearm, and brought me back to you. So, in a way, what happened paved the way for good fortune."

"Okay." The girl gasped out before she looked up at him and sniffled before she smiled, then hit his shoulder, hard. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" she scolded him. This caused Skylar to chuckle as he reached up and ruffled her hair before he heard Missouri call his name.

"Yeah?" Skylar called as he moved to the side of the ship Missouri was coming up to.

"Nice ship! She's around twice the size of Iowa and I!" She replied with her hands cupped around her mouth. "Mind if I come aboard?" she asked.

Skylar smiled. "Come on up!" He replied. Missouri then hopped up onto the massive battleship's deck and stumbled as she landed with a yelp, in which Skylar caught her before she could fall. "You okay?" he asked.

Missouri nodded, a faint red blush rising to her face. "Who's this?" She asked as she stood up straight, referring to the silver-haired girl who stood behind Skylar.

"Sapphira." The girl replied, holding out her hand. "I guess you could call me Skylar's little sister, since this ship is both of ours."

Missouri took her hand with a smile.

Skylar grinned upon seeing the two get along. "Sapphira is kind of a backup, but as you've seen, can fully operate the ship when needed, I tend to direct her toward repairs and damage control most of the time while I focus on combat and maneuvering in an engagement. It makes things much easier to split our processing power like that, considering I'm a better shot than she is, and much more experienced. But I do let her take the reins in some of the engagements, so she's gained enough experience to handle the ship on her own, as you've seen." Skylar explained to Missouri.

Missouri nodded, absorbing the information that she was given.

"So how about that tug?" Skylar asked after a moment of silence.

"Baltimore's coming up on us now, so I should move up and connect the cables. I'm guessing this is only until you have your engines repaired or when we're on approach to the island?"

Skylar nodded in response. "I plan on submerging before we're in visual range of the island. We'll resurface near the shore."

Sapphira turned to him and punched him in the shoulder again. "You just can't help but show off can you?"

Skylar chuckled in response. "Nope!"

"Shameless bastard." She muttered with a shake of her head before turning back to Missouri. "He did the same thing when he finished building the ship with our commander. It scared the shit out of him when Skylar surfaced."

"What did your commander do?" Missouri asked.

"He didn't do anything but gawk at the ship once it was fully visible." Skylar cut in before Sapphira could answer. The latter nodded in agreement.

"After that he had us demonstrate our combat capabilities in mock battles. Suffice to say, Our superiors were amazed." Sapphira added.

"From what we just witnessed, I think that's a good point, but not something new to us." Missouri stated. "I've got to tug you guys, so I'll talk more on the comms. Oh, but before I go, Anthem's gonna be gone by the time we're back and the defense fleet will probably shoot at you if they don't see us first." she said and waved as she turned back around and jumped back onto the deck of her ship, which accelerated as soon as she was onboard. Skylar was disappointed that he couldn't surprise Montana and Sapphira shook her head. They waved as Missouri pulled away to start the tug.

When they approached Midway, Missouri received a message that was relayed from Montana to go to Iwo Jima and for Skylar to meet him at Port Yokosuka to intercept the Fog fleet headed there. Skylar agreed and left immediately, leaving Missouri and their fleet to make their way to the infamous island of Iwo Jima.

∫∆µ∆∫

Montana was impressed by the wall surrounding the port city of Yokosuka. It must have taken years for them to build it. It was a wonder that his former family didn't stop the humans from building it. He activated his stealth systems and slowly crept toward the wall. Once there, he started to levitate his ship, slowly so that he wouldn't be detected by the port's sensors, towards the top of the wall. When he was about halfway to the top of the wall, his sensors picked up a large ship on the edge of his sensor range moving towards the port. Skylar's ship is coming, Anthem thought, big ship, we'll see if it can deliver. He also detected the Fog fleet closing in, but knew that they wouldn't detect him with his stealth systems active, neither would the humans or Skylar until he was in visual range.

When he was over the wall, he moved forward to the other side before falling a bit faster than he rose, leaving nothing but a slight breeze in his wake. When he landed on the water he created a small wave from the impact, but not making enough of a sound to be heard over the normal waves. He miniaturized his antenna so that he wasn't as noticable and moved to the flooded portion of the city and submerged, waiting for the Fog fleet to arrive and the rogue sub to appear and fight them. He had a plan, and he needed Skylar to know it before he rushed in and engaged the two battleships. He wanted to see what the young human captain could do, and how he would fare against two Kongou-class fast-battleships. All he had to do was watch, wait, and listen and he would go from there.

∫∆µ∆∫

Skylar smoothly guided his ship through the gap blown in the Yokosuka defense barrier under complete silence, his ship's stealth systems running at full strength as he slipped underneath the Fog ships currently enlarging the entrance that they had made. He chuckled quietly to himself at how oblivious they were as he passed only ten meters below them. The massive battleship glided through the water effortlessly before descending toward the sunken city and settled in next to the big Montana-class battleship that lay amongst the buildings that now made up this portion of the sea floor. Skylar looked over at the smaller battleship and saw Strider pointing his finger up, indicating that they should surface. Skylar nodded and exited his bridge to swim to the surface.

Strider was making towards a concrete pier nearest to them. Skylar followed, knowing that he wanted to talk. When he made it to the pier, Skylar surfaced and then pulled himself up then he pretended to dust himself off as he stood on the pier. "Strider." He acknowledged.

"Anthem here my friend," Strider corrected softly, "We don't need people to suspect that I am here. I have a reputation among Humans, in Japan especially. They blame me for driving them out of the Pacific and they are right to do so. Strider is an alias that I have had for years and it is well known that it is the alias of one of the super battleships of the Fog fleet."

"Copy that. Now I'm wondering, what's the plan?"

"We wait for the Fog fleet to arrive. When it does, we will take out the support fleet. I am curious to see how the young human captain of the now rogue I-401 will handle the Kongou battleships. If we need to intervene to stop civilians casualties then we will. If the sub can't handle the battleships, we will reveal ourselves to them if they don't know we are here after we take out their support fleet. If that situation occurs, take one, if not both, of the ships Mental Models captive. We need to know if the Fog are up to something."

"I've got eyes for those two battleships. I've got a plan for if they try anything unexpected." Skylar stated. "And they've been hitting the defense barrier for the past eight minutes. I slipped in through a gap they'd blown in the barrier."

Anthem sighed. "I doubt that the humans even know that there is a breach in their great wall. Even if it didn't have a weakness, when I came over the wall, I took into account what the wall was made of and how thick it was." he shook his head sadly before continuing, "The wall can't hold against the bombardment from two battleships, even the smaller fast battleships that the Kongous are. Our top priority is to keep collateral damage to a minimum."

"The alarms should be going off in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…" Skylar counted down.

When Skylar finished his countdown, the alarms of the port went off. "See?"

Anthem nodded and Skylar pointed to a section of the wall. An explosion on the other side of the wall followed. "That'll go down right about … now."

True to his word, the point in the wall that Skylar pointed to exploded into the port, smoke billowing in the wake of the debris. Anthem glanced at Skylar curiously, wondering how he guessed when the alarms would go off and the wall would be breached. When the smoke cleared, two Kongou-class battleships were revealed, one with a yellow pattern and the other with a green pattern.

The Fog had arrived, and they weren't there for peace.

Skylar and Anthem glanced at each other and nodded before diving into the water, making their way to their ships. When they were halfway there, Anthem stopped and turned around. Skylar stopped and looked at Anthem before looking behind him. Between them and the port was a blue submarine with a light blue Fog pattern. Anthem knew that sub, he was there when it was built. The I-401, with its human captain, was engaging the battleships. Anthem and Skylar double timed it to their ships. An escort fleet needed to be destroyed, and it wasn't going to destroy itself.

∫∆µ∆∫

A pair of corrosive torpedoes impacted, one on each of the two battleships, on their port bows. The I-401 advanced on them before diving down to the seafloor and retreating into the sunken ruins of Old Yokosuka City. A few minutes after entering, they cut their engines and began gliding along the currents. Several dozen canisters that were torpedo launchers were then launched and scattered about the ruins. Then the I-401 turned around and swapped currents, minutes before a corrosive torpedo impacted the starboard side of Kirishima's bow. Then, a second corrosive torpedo impacted her starboard stern, coming from the rear rather than off her bow. After some discussion between Haruna and Kirishima, the latter launched a cloud of torpedoes in the direction of the I-401. After absorbing much of the barrage, the I-401 dropped her anchor and swung into in the sea-floor. Many minutes later, the two battleships engaged in splitting open the ocean and linking together in a supergravity cannon as the I-401 was lifted from the rubble and suspended within the enemy's line of fire. With nothing that the I-401 could do, the Blue Steel crew could only await their destruction.

∫∆µ∆∫

The fight between the two super-battleships was quick and decisive. The larger of the two keeping it's position disguised by only firing missiles and torpedoes that would hit the small enemy fleet at different angles, never from the same direction. Montana primarily fired his guns and a few torpedoes, keeping the enemy ships' Klein Fields down while Skylar pummeled them with missile and torpedo barrages. It was over in mere moments, the Nagara-class Light Cruisers stood no chance against a pair of superbattleships working together.

When Anthem and Skylar saw the two Fog battleships linked, they knew that they had to intervene. Skylar disengaged and made his move first, whipping his ship around and diving down deep at top speed. Anthem saw what his ally was doing and surfaced, turning off his stealth systems in the process, making his ship glow in the moonlight with a shroud of glowing navy blue surrounding the lower hull of his ship. Doing so gave the Fog battleships another, far more powerful, target, causing the two to stop the charging of their supergravity cannons and bank around to face the new ship. When they saw who the ship was, they immediately powered down their weapons, knowing that if they fired at the ship, it would be over in mere moments.

Little did they know, it was already over. Skylar was right below them, waiting to make his move.

∫∆µ∆∫

When Anthem surfaced, he knew that the Fog would know he had returned, but he decided that it was for the best. His presence caused the two to turn around as fast as they could. He knew they saw who he was when their weapons powered down and he received a hail from Kirishima.

Montana answered the hail and spoke first, scaring the shit out of the young battleships Mental Models. "What do you think you are doing using the primitive shells of humans and targeting their city?" he asked in a deadly calm voice.

Haruna and Kirishima paled and gulped nervously.

"We were ordered to find and destroy the I-401 and her human captain by any means necessary by our flagship Kongou sir." Kirishima said nervously.

"This far surpasses the orders from an egotistical patrol fleet flagship." Montana snapped, "Does the Admiralty Code state that you can cause unnecessary damage in the pursuit of your goal?"

After a moment of silence, Haruna shook her head no.

"That's what I thought." Montana said, "Now why did you target the port when you should have known that the I-401's captain would have come to you anyway?"

Kirishima flushed in embarrassment and said nothing, Haruna kept her silence as well. "Who's idea was it to breach the wall of the port?" Montana demanded.

"It was my idea sir." Kirishima answered softly.

"Then you will face the consequences of your actions." Montana stated firmly.

Kirishima nodded and the comm. line was cut by Montana. She then felt something hit the underside of her ship hard, piercing her keel and forcing its way up through her ship. It was the bow of a massive ship that had come up from under her at full speed, cutting her hull completely in half and sending Kirishima flying off the deck of her ship as it surfaced and then splashed down into the water. Haruna stared at the new enemy in silent wide-eyed surprise as it settled in the water and then pointed it's five quad-barrelled turrets directly at her ship. Then a young man in an all black naval uniform stepped out of the bridge and leaned against the deck railing.

"You might want to surrender. I've already cut you in half." He said as Kirishima surfaced with a gasp. Then he looked at Haruna. "And if you don't do the same, I'll blow you to hell, understood?"

Kirishima nodded fearfully as Haruna nodded mutely.

Montana came up alongside the massive ship and stepped aboard with no difficulty.

"Missouri had some trouble coming aboard you know. She nearly face planted before I caught her." Skylar said, his eyes twinkling in amusement at the memory.

Montana raised an eyebrow in response but otherwise kept a straight face.

"Got my signal I see. Nice timing by the way. How did you guess when the alarms would go off and the wall would break?"

"One never reveals his secrets. Especially not in front of the enemy." Skylar replied, gesturing to both Kirishima and Haruna. "I'm tempted to blow the other battleship out of the water right now anyway as a consequence for the collateral damage."

"Not the wisest thing if we can use the ship." Montana chided, "Besides, I think that one ship being destroyed is enough for now. Let's invite our guests here to the brig while we deal with the I-401." he said, gesturing to the now surfacing submarine off their port bow.

Skylar nodded. "You've got the one with the ship. I've got the one I sunk." he replied as he threw a rope to Kirishima, who grabbed it and allowed Skylar to haul her aboard.

Montana nodded and jumped back to his ship before moving towards Haruna. He jumped onto her deck and took control of the ship from her and motioned for her to follow him. He then jumped back to his ship and escorted her to his brig.

"Stay here for the time being. I will know if you try to escape. You also won't be able to contact anyone while here, I've made sure of that. I will return when we are finished." he then left the brig and walked onto the deck. He looked up to see Skylar waiting for him and gestured him to come aboard with his hand. Skylar jumped from his ship to the Montana and made his way to Montana's side.

Skylar stopped once he stood next to Montana and then shrugged. "I would have rather stayed on my ship, but I guess this'll work." he stated.

"My ship is the more recognizable between us and I'd prefer that we aren't treated like inexperienced idiots that got lucky." Montana said.

"After witnessing a battleship bigger than any previously seen chop another in half like it was butter, I'd think they'd at least be wary."

"Doesn't mean that you are experienced." Montana explained, "My ship is recognizable to anyone because of my past while yours is an unknown big battleship."

"Then I need to make it known." Skylar said firmly, "Nonetheless, let's begin."

Montana shook his head at the hybrid to his side and waved his hand to create a staircase starting at the platform of the sub and ending at the deck of the Montana. A young man with black hair and a young girl with long silver hair, who looked around twelve, both of whom had been waiting on the deck of the submarine, climbed up the stairs and onto the deck of the battleship that dwarfed the little submarine. They walked onto the deck and the young man gasped and tensed when he saw Montana.

"I see you recognize me young Chihaya Gunzō." Montana said drily, "I was never able to say I am sorry for your loss, your father was dear to me and I was there when he died, the same day that kicked off the war between us. I hope that we can come to an understanding or accord allowing us to work together in the future."

Gunzo thought for a moment before replying. "Before I can agree to anything, I must ask. Why did you attack your own ships?" he then gestured toward Skylar. "And who is he?"

"I see you noticed that and him. For the former, we have had a falling out, simply put, and for the latter, I'll let him introduce himself."

Skylar nodded and then tipped the brim of his hat. "Fleet Admiral Skylar Siren Shade of the Australian Navy. Captain and primary mental model of that giant ass battleship in the background." Skylar stated bluntly.

Gunzō's eyes widened and he blinked in surprise at Skylar's statement. "Mental model?! And you're with the Australian Navy? Being a fleet Admiral no less?! I thought it was destroyed with the world's navy at the final battle 9 years ago."

"Australia's been rebuilding its navy in secret since then, and we've amassed quite the arsenal, sadly it's mainly in light cruisers and destroyers. This is the only battleship that they've even started due to resource shortages currently in effect after building my beauty of a ship, the only one to ever be made I believe."

Montana pointed to the girl beside Gunzō and said, "I take it that she is the I-401's Mental Model? I believe her name was supposed to be Irashi."

The girl's eyes snapped to his and her expression was an unspoken question. Gunzō narrowed his eyes slightly at Montana.

"And how would you know that?" Gunzō asked suspiciously.

"I was there when she was built. I thought that that's what her name is, but seeing her reaction, you named her something different. Do tell what it is. I'd prefer not to call her Mental Model or Irashi when neither of those are her name."

Gunzo looked at the girl, who looked at him, and nodded his head encouragingly.

"I am Iona, Mental Model of the Ars Nova, ship of Chihaya Gunzō." the girl said in a monotone.

∫∆µ∆∫

The older man's gaze washed over me and I felt like I was being taken apart in pieces under his gaze. My core suddenly thrummed as he was scanning me. I hoped that he didn't hear it but I knew he did when his eyes snapped to my chest. His gaze softened a bit before returning to normal. He looked at my captain, who looked confused and cocked his head slightly.

The man turned to the Fleet Admiral. "I apparently have something private that I need to attend to." he said while gesturing to me, "Why don't you go speak with your guest about what she would like to do. The three of us will not be long. I will let you know when we are done."

Skylar glanced at me and Gunzō before nodding reluctantly. He walked over to the side edge of the deck and a staircase appeared for him to use to get back to his ship. He took the stairs three at a time, getting on his ship with little to no trouble. The staircase vanished when he was on his ship. He ran somewhere on his ship, leaving me, Gunzō and the strange man.

The man turned to us and motioned for us to follow him to his bridge. We followed him, unsure of what he had in mind.

∫∆µ∆∫

Skylar hopped onto the deck of his ship and found Kirishima sitting on one of the turrets, pulling her legs into her chest with her arms. She was resting her chin on her knees and gazing out over the water. Skylar climbed up onto the turret and stood behind her. He was silent the entire time, and Kirishima didn't even hear him climb up. "So," he started, making her squeak in surprise, "What should we do with you, eh? I can't let you go, and I'm not going to kill you, even though I sunk your ship. As far as I'm concerned, you're welcome to just hang out on my ship until something happens."

Kirishima huffed. "I'd prefer to stay with Haruna and her collection of words before I stayed with you." she said.

"While I'm pretty sure my sister and I can keep you both from trying to escape, I don't want to risk it. Just be glad I'm not the typical human who keeps grudges. They'd throw you in a cell or kill you the first chance they'd get."

"It'd be better than being a prisoner aboard a human ship." she retorted, "I just wish I had my ship, thanks for that by the way." she finished sadly.

"To be frank, I wasn't expecting your hull to snap quite as spectacularly. The good news is that I've still got the nanomaterial that was your ship." Skylar said thoughtfully.

Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Can you rebuild my ship? Please please please?" she begged.

Skylar chuckled. "I can do a bit more than that if necessary, but not yet. We need to get away from civilization first."

She sobered up as a thought struck her. "You want me to join the Ghost Fleet don't you?" she asked softly.

"I'm not a part of the Ghost Fleet. I'm independent. The closest I can tell you until you prove you can be trusted is that I guess I could be called a pirate or a privateer." he said as he sat down beside her.

"Then why take an interest in me?" she asked boldly, "I'm, I used to be, one of hundreds if not thousands of Fog vessels. Why are you interested in me of all Mental Models?"

"Since brutal honesty is a trait of mine, reason one: you're cute, reason two: I just have this gut feeling that something's going change you enough that you might, in a sense, evolve." he answered.

"Evolve!?" she exclaimed, "the Fog don't evolve, we conquer. If you didn't get the memo when we destroyed your navies, here it is."

"Evolving is learning. For instance, take Montana, He's evolved through learning tactics and separating himself from the Fleet of Fog to try and keep damage to the human race to a minimum. But for him, that didn't take a whole lot, and he didn't evolve in a very dramatic way. Now, take for instance, you. Your emotions went haywire in the midst of combat while fighting the I-401. That's not something that's happened before, now has it?" Skylar asked calmly.

"H-how did you know that!?" she demanded.

"I was under you two the while it happened. And I'm known to be observant. Other than that, one does not reveal their secrets to those who haven't earned it." He replied bluntly. "Back to the topic of evolving. The reason why humanity hasn't given up is because humanity is only doing what it does best, and that's surviving, and learning from it's mistakes. Or at least trying to for the most part, some never learn a thing, idiotic bastards."

She opened her mouth to retort, but sighed and slumped. "I don't really have a choice here do I?"

"You have opportunities and a choice. One will allow you to move forward, and the other will keep you from reaching any further potential you might have. It's up to you." Skylar stated before standing up. "I'll let you decide. I need to speak to my sister." He said before he dropped down onto the deck. "Take as much time as you need!" he called before his footsteps moved away.

"I will, don't worry." she grumbled to herself.

∫∆µ∆∫

When Skylar returned to the Montana, he found their guests and Strider waiting for him.

Strider turned first, noticing him when he came aboard. "Let's get underway shall we? I believe that our destination is the infamous Iwo Jima, at least according to our guests that is." he then turned to Gunzō. "Lead on young man and we will discuss what we can do for each other."

Gunzō nodded and left for his sub, the young Mental Model in tow. With a lazy two finger salute, Skylar boarded his own ship to go to the island base of the sub, and possibly, the new base for the Ghost Fleet. Skylar, however, did not follow them. His ship remained behind, and he and Strider were currently discussing why over their comms.

"I need to remain here for a while, I'll catch up." Skylar told Strider as he stood on the bridge of his ship with Sapphira standing beside him. "I have some business with the Japanese military, but I'll catch up. Besides, I doubt my ship would even fit in a dock."

Strider snorted, "Our docks fit me easily, you would fit too. When you return, we need to plan our next move."

Skylar hummed in affirmation before closing the channel. Now he had a military to ally with. Well… hopefully… probably… he certainly hoped so.

A/N from Hunter Dracon: Here we are one and all. Those that have enjoyed our story have (obviously) thus been rewarded with this brand new chapter, and I'll tell you right now, I loved writing it, although the edits were a damn pain. Thanks for reading and I'll hopefully punch out another chapter sooner than later.

A/N from Arisentactica: Hey guys we're back from this stupid hiatus! Please drop a review to let us know what you thought of the story and see you in the next one!


	4. Author's Note

**Alright people. So I haven't had any ideas to really get down on paper for this for a while, nor the motivation to write it. I've been focused on other stuff. So this is a little reminder thing. There have been changes made to Chapter 3, as it's ending didn't line up with what needs to happen. We're not gonna up and just ignore Makie like it was originally written. That's not how it works. Anyway, i've said what i needed to say, and till the next chapter is out, I gotta ask you guys to be patient like you have been.**


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